Sunday, October 28, 2007

Vintage Doll Collecting: Engel-Puppen Doll Company

Engel-Puppen has been in business for more than 100 years. It is the oldest doll factory at its location in Roedental, Bavaria, Germany.The Engel-Puppen dolls produce almost any type of doll from small playable vinyl dolls to decorative dolls in original German costumes, from nostalgic collectable dolls to valuable artist dolls made of porcelain in limited editions. The company also produces a large variety in doll clothes and accessories. One very important fact about the Engel-Puppen doll lines and accessories is that they are all made in Germany and meet the standard of quality that German products are known for all over the world.At the end of the 19th century, home-workers in the city of Rodental, collected materials from their contractors located in world city of toys, Sonneberg. The dolls were usually complete. Most of the workers worked from workshops in their living rooms.The first doll factory was established in Monchroden in October/November of 1896 by Edmuch Knoch and his wife, Emilie. Together they started working in one room of her father’s house, but soon outgrew the space and moved to another house in Rothinestr 7. They moved into their own factory building in 1908 in Lange Wiesen 6.The first big success of the Edmund Knoch Company was the small princess dolls sold mostly by exporters from Hamburg. Their next biggest customers were the export companies from Sonneberg, which is the oldest toy city in the world.Edmund Knoch died in 1934. Edmund’s son, Otto and his mother began to run the company, which now had 30 employees and home workers. Read on at: http://smalldogs2.com/VintageDollCollecting